1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to shoes. More particularly, the present invention relates to a shoe having a footwear system with an air bulge formed by a midsole and an outsole of the shoe.
2. Description of the Related Art
Shoes having cushioning members disposed under a wearer's foot are known in the art, for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,687 to Schmidt, U.S. Patent Nos. 5,896,608, 5,279,051, 5,060,401, 5,005,299, 5,440,826 to Whatley, U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,114 to Stubblefield, U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,316 to Tanzi, U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,016 to Vaccari, U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,002 to Slepian, U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,329 to Crowley, U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,206 to Weber, U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,554 to Hannemann, U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,884 to Lindh, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,926,974, 6,018,889, 6,226,896 to Friton, U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,962 to Shorten, U.S. Patent Nos. 5,524,364, 4,577,417, 5,375,346, 5,545,463 and 5,416,986 to Cole, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,664,341, 5,678,328, 5,679,439, 5,842,291 to Schmidt, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,359 to Jenkins.
If properly installed, a bladder may be effective in comforting the foot. However, the bladder also has a number of detriments that outweighs the effectiveness of the cushioning. First, the bladder is expensive to manufacture, and requires precision when the bladder is installed in the pocket of the shoe. If improperly and imprecisely installed in the pocket, the bladder may not cushion the foot.
Additionally, increased material costs must be borne by the manufacturer and consumer. These costs are attributed to forming the shoe with the bladder. Further, additional increased labor costs result. This increased labor costs are attributed to placing the bladder in the pocket at a precise pre-selected location of the pocket, which is time consuming, and sealing the pocket with the bladder in the correct pre-selected location of the pocket to facilitate cushioning.
The pocket must be formed with a similar size relative to the bladder in order for the bladder to fit therein and permit the bladder to appropriately expand and collapse to cushion the foot at the pre-selected location. These bladder installation operations are labor, and time intensive, and increase the cost of the shoe.
The bladder in the shoe has a first height in an inflated state and has a second height in a collapsed state. When running or walking, the bladder undergoes an impact. This impact causes the bladder to change its shape. This shape changes the bladder's height from the first height to the second height in a relatively short time interval. The foot rests on the bladder. When running or walking, this collapse in height may result in the foot in the shoe dropping suddenly from the first height to the second height upon impact with the ground. As such, the bladder creates an unstable sensation during impact.